PESHAWAR: Two lawyers on Friday challenged the recently-notified service rules for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission’s investigation and prosecution wing in the Peshawar High Court insisting they violate the Ehtesab law.

Ijaz Ahmad Malik and Amanullah Khan filed a joint petition requesting the court to declare the relevant notification issued on Mar 29, 2017, and the KPEC (Investigation and Prosecution Wing) Employees Services Rules, 2017, illegal and without lawful authority.

They also sought the court’s orders for the respondents, including the provincial government, to frame the said rules in line with the KPEC Act, 2014, and on a par with the National Accountability Bureau Rules.

The petitioners have prayed the high court that as interim relief the operation on the impugned notification and the said rules may be suspended till final disposal of the petition.

Respondents in the petition are the KP government through the law secretary, KP chief secretary, establishment secretary, KPEC through the chief Ehtesab commissioner, Ehtesab commission’s director general and director (human resource).

The petition filed through senior lawyer Syed Haziq Ali Shah states that the impugned notification and rules would not only adversely affect the petitioners but also a large number of advocates interested in applying for different posts of the prosecution wing.

The petitioners said in NAB, the qualification and experience for the post of deputy prosecutor general (DPG) was 15 years of high court practice, while for the post of the special prosecutor, only seven years of practicing experience as an advocate of the high court was required.

They added that similar was the case of law officers in the office of advocate general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where only 10 years experience was required.

The petitioners said under Section 14 of the KPEC Act 2014, the eligibility for the person to be appointed as prosecutor general of the KPEC was a person, who was qualified to be appointed as a judge of high court, suggesting that the appointment should be a lawyer aged 45 years or above and having 10 years high court standing/practice as provided in Article 193 of the Constitution.

They said in addition to the prosecutor general, the KPEC appointed deputy prosecutor general, special prosecutors and law officers.

The petitioners said the eligibility of the said positions were initially governed under the previous human resource criterion set out by the commission wherein the eligibility was time and again made public through advertisements of Dec 2014 and July 2015 when the Ehtesab commission required the appointment against said positions.

They said according to that HR criterion, the upper age limit provided for DPG was 55 years with at least 15 years experience having aptitude and practical experience of criminal cases, while special prosecutor was required to have 10 years experience with the upper age limit of 55 years.

The petitioners said they were shocked to see when the impugned rules were notified for the appointment of DPG, special prosecutors and law officers, which were absolutely in contradiction with the theme of the KPEC Act.

They claimed that the eligibility criteria mentioned in the impugned rules of 2017 was over and above the qualification for the judge of the Supreme Court and high court, attorney general for Pakistan and advocate generals of the provinces and therefore, it was unreasonable, illogical, irrational, vague and beyond prudent understanding of a logical mind.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017